Anthologies of Hope

April's episodes will feature interviews with some of Hope for the Day's Agents of Impact & Partners in Prevention discussing the new reality we find ourselves in and the impact on our communities from their intersections. Guests this week include artist Cristi Lopez; Kelin Hall, Therapist - YWCA; Juliette Goldstein & Michael Ray, Boston Bulldogs Running Club Coach; and Megan Murphy, The Kindness Rocks Project.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

April's episodes will feature interviews with some of Hope for the Day's Agents of Impact & Partners in Prevention discussing the new reality we find ourselves in and the impact on our communities from their intersections. Guests this week include Megan Tress, Advanced Practice Nurse, PCC Community Wellness; Aaron Coleman, Beatkeepers Instructor, Chicago Music Exchange, & Musician; Big Gidz Evans, Dark Matter Coffee & Musician; and Veronica Padilla, author of Gentle Mentals.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

April's episodes will feature interviews with some of Hope for the Day's Agents of Impact & Partners in Prevention discussing the new reality we find ourselves in and the impact on our communities from their intersections. Guests this week include Nancy Bartosz, Hope Travels Champion & Teacher; Kate Smith, creator of One Woman Hamlet; and Adam Hill, father, high-school Band Director, and Director of the Chicago Bulls Stampede drumline.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

Due to current events and actions taken to ensure appropriate public health measures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Hope for the Day is going virtual with Conversations Cafe for the next few months! The same great programming that you could participate in at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar will now be streamed live to YouTube each week instead! You can still listen to each episode right here on Anthologies of Hope to keep the conversation going in your preferred podcast app. Be sure to follow Hope for the Day on all the social platforms to follow along for a great slate of guests we'll be bringing you virtually each week!

March's episodes will feature interviews with some of Hope for the Day's Agents of Impact doing amazing work to provide validation to others through their talents and passions, including Margaux Shain of Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance, Phillip Ryan Block of Independent Ear Music Group & theopenheartcollective, Laurel James, Maesie Duncan, Angel Overton, and Trevor Rose-Hamblin of Old Irving Brewing Company.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

Due to current events and actions taken to ensure appropriate public health measures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Hope for the Day is going virtual with Conversations Cafe for the next few months! The same great programming that you could participate in at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar will now be streamed live to YouTube each week instead! You can still listen to each episode right here on Anthologies of Hope to keep the conversation going in your preferred podcast app. Be sure to follow Hope for the Day on all the social platforms to follow along for a great slate of guests we'll be bringing you virtually each week!

March's episodes will feature interviews with some of Hope for the Day's Agents of Impact doing amazing work to provide validation to others through their talents and passions including Denisse Robledo, one of the hosts of Cocktails con Comadres podcast and [artist Myron Laban (whose work is featured at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar).

Cocktails con Comadres is a podcast hosted by three badass Chicago ladies. When life doesn't get in the way, they get together to drink, gossip, and discuss serious shit. They created this platform to elevate women's voices, share honest stories, and be unapologetically theirselves.

Myron Laban is a 25 year-old visual artist and pharmacist born of Egyptian immigrants. He is most known for his CTA Project and Uplift pieces. His “Uplift” series represents perseverance to keep moving forward during struggle, while maintaining hope that things will be okay. In 2017 he was named “best new visual artist” by The Chicago Reader and has been featured on WGN and WCIU. Myron has incorporated his art into the community with organizations such as Hope For The Day, Chance the Rapper’s SocialWorks, Young Chicago Authors, and Boys and Girls Club of Chicago. His ultimate goal is to create art that helps people through their struggle.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

Welcome to our first super-special bonus Conversations Cafe episode of 2020!

Hope for the Day’s Founder & CEO, Jonny Boucher, sits down with Brian Welch and James Shaffer…you may know them better as Head and Munky from the band Korn! We caught up with the guys when their tour rolled into Rockford, IL recently and, in partnership with HFTD’s Partner In Prevention - Live Nation - we provided a live pop-up Conversations Cafe experience to a select group of VIPs prior to the guys taking the stage. Jonny, Brian, and James dive into how stigma has impacted their lives, how it has adapted during their time in the band, as well as how they take care of themselves on the road and at home.

Conversations Cafe is (usually) a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

This month's episode, titled "Me, Myself, and I", focuses on validating all lived experiences, bringing you conversations with a few of Hope for the Day’s Partners in Prevention and Agents of Impact.

Our guests this week include:

•Amy Sumpter, comedian and co-host of Shaped Podcast.

•Latania Franklin, therapist with Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness.

•Rocky Callen, author of the soon to be published book, “A Breath Too Late”.

The Conversations Cafe is a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope for the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

This month's episode, titled "You Are Not Alone", features interviews with the following Hope for the Day's Partners - Big Brothers Big Sisters Chicago, Center on Halsted, and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance of Greater Chicago (aka DBSA).

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago is an affiliate of the oldest, most respected mentoring organization in the United States. They are a mission-driven, performance-based organization that is professionally managed and provides high-quality 1:1 mentoring services to over 2,100 children in Metro Chicago and their families across four counties: Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties in Illinois and Indiana.

Center on Halsted is the Midwest's most comprehensive community center dedicated to advancing community and securing the health and well-being of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people of Chicagoland. More than 1,000 community members visit the Center every day, located in the heart of Chicago's Lakeview Neighborhood.

The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance - Greater Chicago (DBSA-GC) is a self-help organization offering support and education to those with mood disorders, their families, and friends. They are a local chapter of DBSA, which is a national organization with hundreds of affiliates across the US, Canada, and now, Mexico, Brazil, China, and Singapore.

The Conversations Cafe is a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope For the Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

This month’s episode, titled "Hope for the Holidays", features interviews with Hope For The Day Agents of Impact and Partners in Prevention doing amazing work to start the conversation in their own way, breaking the silence on mental health together as a community through their various talents and passions.

Our guests this month include:

-Mike Vinopal, Director of Education for HFTD, sitting down one-on-one with Caleb Jennings, one-half of Kambs Jennings Group - an amazing Partner in Prevention with HFTD.

-Agent of Impact, Kate Smith, creator of One Woman Hamlet, an extra special one-woman show that aims to "Shake(speare) The Stigma Surrounding Mental Health."

-Agent of Impact, Stefanie Berecz of the amazing band, The Right Now, talks about how she got involved with Hope For The Day, their performance at last year's Hope Ball, and how the band continues to break the silence together. - And the episode is closed out by an amazing, live two song performance by Stefanie and Chris from The Right Now!

The Conversations Cafe is a monthly live podcast recording at Sip of Hope Coffee Bar featuring education and open forum dialogue on the intersections of Mental Health within our communities. This education programming is brought to you by Hope For The Day with support from our partners in prevention, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of Illinois, Banyan Treatment Center, and Janssen.

The live experience of this month's episode who attended at Sip of Hope was generously sponsored by Partners in Prevention, Eating Recovery Center & Insight Behavioral Health Centers, who picked up the tab for guests for the evening. Eating Recovery Center’s mission is to provide the very best care to patients, families and providers of care in the treatment of, and recovery from, eating disorders and related conditions. Insight Behavioral Health Centers offers higher levels of care for children, adolescents, adults and their and families facing serious emotional and behavioral health concerns.

Join the conversation. We are in this together.

My friend, Dr. Ryan Stoll, PhD, joins us this week to bring us the first Mental Health Minute episode - one which we hope to be a series of episodes that will bring you plenty of bite-sized tips and tricks for how you can improve your mental health by bringing you some practical knowledge that would otherwise be sequestered in research and academia.

As you’ll hear on the episode, Ryan’s background is in Clinical Psychology with a focus on anxiety and depression, as well as Entrepreneurship. You’ll hear throughout the episode how these seemingly two disparate ideas come together so beautifully and all the wonderful things that Ryan is doing with that combination of skills and accreditation.

We jump into breaking down some tools that you can use for managing, attacking, and working through your anxiety - including concepts like awareness, correction, and cognitive self-control.

Next up, we re-adjust and see how some of these same tools can be applied to depression, but also what new elements you can add to your toolbox to attack this mental illness that is more inwardly-focused, as compared to the externally-focused symptoms of anxiety.

If you don’t have the time to re-listen, or undoubtedly take copious notes like I know my lovely and studious wife will end up doing, you can check out the companion blog posts that Ryan has written to accompany the episode. These blog posts are available at anthologiesofhope.com/mhm and are meant to be this very conversation distilled down into what you can take away, be actionable, and potentially even print out to re-read when you are on the verge of increased anxiety or in the depths of a depressive episode.